Training and Labour

Commissioned by the European Commission Vocational and Education Agency (Cedefop)

This study was carried out by Dr David Etherington (CEEDR) and Professor Carol Costley (Institute of Work Based Learning) as part of a wider Consortium also involving 3s Consulting ( lead partner in Vienna), Tallinn University, Estonia and Consoltor, Norway.

The key finding was that the role and position of actors and the involvement of stakeholder was the most decisive criterion in characterising differences in feedback mechanism in particular the role of social partners. However there were also big differences in the involvement of other stakeholder groups
such as teachers or students, and among the social partners.

The study found also that the nature of social dialogue as it shapes cooperation was central in terms of providing a close link between education policy and the labour market as well as meeting some of the key challenges posed by the current economic crisis and downturn.

The economic crisis has led to reinforcement of social dialogue in VET in many countries (e.g. in France, Spain and Sweden). In some countries this led to new forms of apprenticeship like systems (e.g. in Sweden and England) which are also trying to introduce new feedback mechanism with a stronger involvement
of the social partners. Download published report